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| PM deceived nation on N-deal: Advani | | |
NEW DELHI: BJP leader L K Advani on Thursday charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with "deceiving the nation" on the Indo-US nuclear deal and, marking out NDA's role as the principal Opposition, said the government had chosen to approach the IAEA in a surreptitous manner.
After a meeting of the NDA, Advani mounted a powerful attack on the government for its "decision to go to IAEA” within a day of having committed itself to do so only after a confidence vote in Parliament. The Leader of Opposition accused the PM of sharing the draft with "the rest of the world before doing so with the people of India".
NDA's attack was sharp, perhaps all the more so with Left having moved completely into the Opposition space. Hitting at the government for its haste, after the Left pullout, in trying to seal the India-US agreement, Advani said the government had lost all credibility and its word could not be believed.
"A minority government has bartered away national interest through the back-door," he said.
Pointing out that external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee had, barely 48 hours ago, categorically declared that the government would approach IAEA only after a trust vote and that the assurance followed consultations with the Prime Minister, Advani said the draft had been circulated even before the PM returned from the G8 summit.
The government had approached IAEA and circulated the draft among 25 IAEA board members. Such was the PM's keeness to move on the deal that he had spoken of approaching IAEA "very soon" even as Mukherjee invited the Left for a final meeting on the pact.
Expressing his apprehension that the deal was deeply flawed, Advani asked, "What is the government trying to hide?" He said NDA suspects there is a "conspiracy afoot to present the nation with a fait accompli on the deal by rushing through it behind closed doors". "No government, least of all a minority government, can be permitted to make commitments on an issue as fundamental to the country's long-term interests and national security," Advani said.
Painting the Congress-led government as untrustworthy with just months to go for a slew of assembly polls followed by Lok Sabha elections, Advani remarked, "If its senior-most minister's solemn declaration about seeking a trust vote can be so summarily overturned, how can Prime Minister be trusted with anything? It is capable of going back on assurances even before the ink is dry."
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